PORT JEFFERSON MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO MURDER

(SUFFOLK COUNTY, N.Y.) – Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney today announced that Alejandro Vargas-Diaz, 41, of Port Jefferson, pleaded guilty to Murder in the Second Degree and other related charges for the 2018 fatal shooting of 27-year-old Albert Luis Rodriguez-Lopez, a father of three and resident of Selden.

“For five years, the relatives and loved ones of Mr. Rodriguez-Lopez have waited for justice for this senseless murder. Today, with his admission of guilt, justice has been served,” said District Attorney Tierney. “While the defendant may have prolonged his freedom by hiding out in another state, it was only a matter of time before the law caught up with him and now, he is being held to account for his actions.”  

According to court documents and the defendant’s statements during his guilty plea allocution, on July 22, 2018, Vargas-Diaz and the victim got into an argument inside a pool hall in Port Jefferson. During the argument, the victim punched Vargas-Diaz in the face, knocking him to the ground. A short time later, Vargas-Diaz ambushed the victim inside the pool hall, and shot the victim in the back, neck, and shoulder. The victim died at the scene. Vargas-Diaz immediately fled and absconded from New York state.

One month after the murder, members of Suffolk County Police Department found the murder weapon, a 9 mm pistol, hidden in a tree at the Setauket Port Jefferson Greenway Trail.

On June 18, 2021, nearly three years after the fatal shooting, Vargas-Diaz was arrested by members of the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office in Florida after a tip to crime stoppers. Vargas-Diaz was extradited back to Suffolk County on November 11, 2021, to be arraigned on the charges related to the murder.

On July 24, 2023, Vargas-Diaz pleaded guilty before Acting Supreme Court Justice, the Honorable Steven A. Pilewski, to Murder in the Second Degree, a Class A violent felony, and Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree, a Class C violent felony.

Vargas-Diaz is due back in court on September 13, 2023 for sentencing, and is expected to be sentenced to 23 years to life in prison. He is being represented by Christopher Brocato, Esq.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Elena Tomaro of the Homicide Bureau and Carlos J. Benitez II of the Major Crime Bureau, with investigative assistance from the Suffolk County Police Homicide Squad and Sergeant Norberto Flores of the Internal Affairs Unit.

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Defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty. No one is above the law.

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